


You Don't Know What It's Like

by realityisoverrated



Series: Infinite Love [204]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Canon Typical Violence, F/M, M/M, Polyamory, Polyfidelity, Sick Character, Smoaking billionaires, Toliver, flommy, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-08 04:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20305249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/realityisoverrated/pseuds/realityisoverrated
Summary: Prue receives a diagnosis that leaves her future uncertain. Felicity, Oliver, and Tommy can't make their daughter understand that surgery isn't optional. Prue decides to take matters into her own hands and leaves the hospital. She thinks a few hours pretending to be someone other than Prudence Harper Smoak is what she needs to feel like a normal teenager. Her decision to attend an illegal rave might be the last decision she ever makes.





	You Don't Know What It's Like

**Author's Note:**

> This story depicts a polyamorous relationship between one woman and two men. If this is not something you are interested in, please stop and go no further.
> 
> More than any of the children, Prue is very much the child of Oliver, Felicity, and Tommy. 
> 
> This installment is 202/204. The chronological list for the series, with hyperlinks, can be found at  
http://archiveofourown.org/works/11051019
> 
> Welcome to any new readers. The more the merrier.

The walk from the doctor’s office to Prue’s room on the pediatric floor was agonizing. Her parents were silent as they stood behind her on the elevator. She knew they were just holding off until they reached the privacy of her room, but the silence made her feel like she was suspended high above the ground, waiting for gravity to kick back in and smash her to the ground. It was a conversation she was dreading having. Prue’s arms were wrapped around herself, the heavy sweater she wore insufficient to keep out the chill of her doctor’s words.  
  
The elevator doors opened onto the sunny yellow walls of the pediatric floor. Colorful murals and cartoon characters danced across the corridors as if they were accompanying her back to her room. There was a time the cartoon characters made her smile, but now, they seemed to mock the childhood that may never become adulthood. She would forever be a child in the minds of her family. Once again, her siblings would leave her behind as they experienced life in a way she feared she never would.  
  
Prue ignored the nurses as they called out in friendly greeting. Her parents responded, but Prue didn’t listen. The door to her room was open and she didn’t bother trying to close it before her parents could enter. She strode over to the small closet and pulled out her overnight bag.  
  
“Prue,” Felicity said gently as she watched her daughter pack her bag.  
  
Prue, her hands shaking, continued to ignore her parents as she packed her bag. She refused to listen to them. She was done listening. No one understood what she was feeling and she wasn’t going to be persuaded by anyone who didn’t understand.  
  
“Sweetheart,“ Oliver said, “talk to us.“  
  
“I’m going home,“ Prue said, stuffing West into her bag and zipping it closed.  
  
“Prue,” Tommy said sitting on the edge of her bed.  
  
“No,” she said, rubbing her tongue along the roof of her mouth to keep herself from crying. “I’m going home – today.”  
  
“After the surgery, you can come home. We’ll hire a nurse - you can come home sooner,” Felicity offered.  
  
“I’m not having surgery,” Prue said. “You can’t make me.” She kicked off her slippers and shoved her feet into a pair of sneakers. She didn’t want to face her parents because she knew that at sixteen, they could make her have the surgery.  
  
“Prudence,” Oliver said firmly, “The surgery isn’t optional. You have to have it.”  
  
“No, I don’t. I don’t consent. Legally, I know you can make me, but I want you to know that if you do, I’ll never forgive you.” Prue turned her attention to emptying out the small bathroom of her personal effects instead of seeing the pained looks she put on her parents’ faces.  
  
“We know that cancer is a scary word,” Tommy said when she returned to the room and dumped her toiletries onto her bed.  
  
“Pre-cancer,” Prue spat out. “They don’t know if it’s turned to cancer.”  
  
“Yet,” Oliver added. “Which is why you need surgery.”  
  
“I’d rather be dead than to spend the rest of my life wearing a colostomy bag,” Prue shouted.  
  
“Don’t you dare say that,” Tommy exploded. “Don’t you ever say that again.”  
  
“You’re not being fair,” Felicity said, running a hand down Tommy’s back as she addressed her daughter. “The doctor said that there was a very small chance that would be the outcome.”  
  
“Well, unless it’s zero percent, I’m not having the surgery,” Prue said defiantly. She’d never had any control over her body before, but she was going to have control over this. “I will kill myself before I live like that.”  
  
“Prue,” Felicity gasped.  
  
A strangled cry burst from Tommy. He jumped up from his spot on the edge of her bed and grabbed his coat from the hook. “I need some air, I’ll be right back,” he said, his back to the room.

“Tommy,” Felicity said with a mixture of concern and anger.

Tommy’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry. I’ll be right back,” he said before leaving the room.  
  
Oliver wrapped his arm around Prue and held her tightly. He dropped his head to the top of hers. “Okay, sweetheart. We are listening. We hear you. Let’s have another conversation with your surgeon, okay?”  
  
Prue nodded her head against her dad‘s chest, but she was already gone. She was leaving the hospital today, with or without her parents’ help.

Prue stared defiantly at the bouncer who was staring at her as his partner examined her fake ID with a small blacklight. Prue was confident that her fake ID could pass any scrutiny, she’d made it herself, but if the bouncer recognized her, it was all over. With the help of a personal shopper and her mom’s credit card, she’d done everything she could to disguise her appearance. Her blonde hair was now the color of a flamingo, and she was wearing heavy eye makeup and glow in the dark lipstick. She’d even tried to disguise her 5’1” height with a pair of three-inch platform boots. Her original plan was to get out of town, but she knew there wasn’t anywhere she could hide from her family. Instead of flying to the South Pacific, she had opted for a night of dancing.

“Date of birth?” the bouncer holding her ID asked.

“January 19th, 2021,” Prue lied smoothly, her breath puffing in small clouds as she spoke. Her decision to forgo a coat seemed foolhardy in the cold February night.

The bouncer held out her ID and Prue quickly zipped it into the pocket of her leather skirt. The muscle-bound man eyed her one last time before stepping aside, “Have fun.”

Prue ducked through the open door and quickly got pulled along by the crowd into the large open space. The old warehouse was in the Pennytown wharf area had been transformed into Starling’s hottest mobile rave. Every week there was a new party location that was only revealed an hour before the doors opened. So far, the SCPD and Team Arrow had been unsuccessful in finding its location. Prue had overheard two nurses in radiology discussing the raves. She’d lifted one of their phones with the intention of getting the info for William and Bobby, but when she got the alert, she decided she’d let them know about the next party.

Colorful lights strobed along the floor and ceiling as a heavy base beat seemed to make the very air throb with the music. Several naked people, covered in neon colored foam, ran by her. Bubbles floated down from the ceiling, reflecting the light and shimmering as they fell. A woman, dressed only in her bra and underwear, put a blinking garland around Prue’s neck and kissed her on the mouth before disappearing into the crowd.

Prue followed a group of young men and women out onto the dance floor and allowed herself to be swallowed up by the crowd. As she moved her body to the music, Prue didn’t think she’d ever felt so alive or free. A night like this, where she could be anyone but Prudence Harper Smoak, was all she could think of as she sat in her doctor’s office and listened to him tell her parents she needed another surgery – that this time it might be cancer. She was done being sick. She was done with hospitals. She wasn’t going to have another surgery. Her parents couldn’t make her.

She felt euphoric as her skin became slick from a combination of her sweat and the bubbles popping against her body. There were rumors that these raves were popular because of the drug Elation. It could be absorbed through the skin and provided a euphoric high. William and Bobby were investigating the distributor of Elation. A few people had overdosed at these raves, but all of them had admitted going into the foam pit. Prue told herself the bubbles were harmless as she cupped her hands in front of her to catch a bubble. She told herself it was her act of rebellion and the dancing that was making her feel good and not some drug. As long as she stayed away from the foam, she was safe. Besides, none of the overdoses had been fatal.

After an hour on the dance floor, Prue made her way over to one of several crowded bars scattered around the dance floor. She tried to squeeze her way through to buy some water but kept getting pushed back to the outside of the group.

“It’s a madhouse,” a man said to Prue.

She looked up at a guy who looked to be Bobby’s age and he was smiling at her. “I’m thinking I might have better luck if I climbed over them instead of going through them,” she shouted.

“I’m Jake,” he shouted.

“Grace,” she shouted back the name on her fake ID.

He held out his hand, “We might have better luck if we go in together.”

Prue only hesitated for a moment. She put her hand in Jake’s and he shifted behind her. He pulled her back against his front and pushed them through the crowd until she was standing in front of the bar. He got a bartender’s attention. “What do you want?” he asked.

“Water,” she answered, holding out her wrist for the bartender to swipe the cash chip she was wearing. She was tempted to order alcohol, but she’d taken her nightly dose of pain pills before she left the hospital. She didn’t plan on overdosing the first time she went clubbing.

Jake covered her wrist with his hand. “My treat,” he said as he held out his own wrist.

Prue accepted the bottle of water and took hold of Jake’s hand as he led her away from the bar. “Thank you,” she said when he let go of her hand.

He held his beer out and she tapped her bottle of water against it. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.”

“There’s a lot of people here, you can’t recognize all of them.” Prue opened her water and drank nearly half the bottle.

Jake reached out and touched the end of her hair, “I think I’d remember this hair.”

“The pink is new. It was blue before this,” she said, not wanting to admit it was her first time at the rave.

“Do you go to SCU?” Jake asked.

“No, do you?” Prue asked, uncomfortable with the direction of their conversation. She didn’t want Jake to recognize her.

“I’m a senior. How about you?” Jake asked.

“Junior,” she said. Technically, it was the truth. She was a junior, just in high school, not college.

“At Bay University?” he asked, naming the other large school in the city.

Prue shook her head. “Caltech,” she said, hoping he didn’t know anyone at the school.

His eyes went wide. “You’re a science geek?”

“Something like that,” she said. Her eyes followed another group of naked people covered in neon foam as they ran past.

“Have you ever done the foam room?” Jake said, his eyes looking over her head towards the partitioned area.

“No. Have you?” she asked, curious about the experience.

“Nah, but my friends have. I was thinking of trying it tonight. It’s supposed to loosen you up – help you lose your inhibitions.”

Prue looked around. “No one here seems to have any problems losing their inhibitions.”

Jake stepped closer, his lips brushing against her ear, “My roommate and his girlfriend swear the sex is better after spending some time in the foam.”

Instinctively, Prue took a step back. She hadn’t come out looking to hook up with a boy, especially not someone in his twenties. “I wasn’t planning on going in the foam. I heard people have overdosed from it.”

“That’s just rumors the cops are spreading to stop the rave. They aren’t having any luck finding the party, so they want to scare everyone off,” Jake said.

“I’m going back on the dance floor. Thanks for being my bar battering ram,” Prue said, holding up her water.

There was a part of Prue that was tempted to take Jake up on his offer. Unlike her siblings, she wasn’t sexually active. None of the boys at school had ever shown the slightest interest in her. She’d always assumed their lack of interest was because she looked eleven and not sixteen. She still didn’t have any breasts to speak of. It seemed like Becca got the entire family breast allotment and there was nothing left over for Prue. She’d always thought the first time she had sex it would be with her boyfriend, but it was looking like she was running out of time. If she wanted that life experience, she might need to shift her expectations and make it happen. Jake was attractive and older, so maybe he would be experienced enough to make it good for her she rationalized. No one ever said sex had to be in a committed relationship to be good. Prue didn’t have any desire to be exposed to the foam, she hoped Jake could be persuaded to stick with the dance floor. If she still liked him after dancing, she’d consider going home with him.

Jake grabbed her wrist, “Come on, Grace. Try it with me. It could be fun.”

Startled by the sudden contact, Prue pulled her wrist free. Her momentum carried her backwards and her platform boots made her stumble. She collided with a solid wall of muscle. “Sorry,” she said as she tried to right herself.

“Prue?” a too familiar voice asked.

Prue squeezed her eyes shut. She wasn’t expecting to see anyone she knew, let alone someone she was related to. She craned her head back and opened her eyes to see her cousin Scott towering over her. “Hey,” she said.

“Grace, is this guy bothering you?” Jake asked, a possessive hand on her shoulder.

A figure stepped out from behind Scott and placed himself between Prue and Jake. “Grace?” JJ asked her with a cocked brow.

“Great,” Prue muttered to herself. She shouldn’t be surprised that her two cousins, home from college on their February break, had found their way onto the invitation list. “Anyone else here?”

“Who’s this guy?” Scott asked her, his massive arms folded across his muscular chest.

“This is Jake. We were just talking,” Prue said, hoping her cousins wouldn’t push too hard. She didn’t want them to scare Jake off, but they were much more physically imposing than her new friend.

“We were about to go to the foam room,” Jake said to Scott. “Who are you?”

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Scott growled, “especially not the foam room.”

“Go find some other little girl to hit on,” JJ said, his large biceps bulging across his massive chest.

“Who the hell are these beefheads?” Jake asked Prue. “I thought we were having fun.”

“We’re her family and she’s sixteen, so go the fuck away,” Scott snarled.

Jake’s eyes dropped to Prue and he studied her face. She saw the moment when he realized Scott and JJ were telling the truth. He shook his head and walked away.

Prue pushed against Scott’s chest, “What the frak? I didn’t need your help. He was nice enough. We were having fun.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in the hospital?” JJ asked. “What the hell are you even doing here?”

“The same thing you’re doing here – trying to have fun,” Prue answered before she stormed back onto the dance floor.

“Did the hospital release you?” Scott asked as he walked behind her. “Do your parents know where you are?”

Prue spun around and poked her finger into her cousin’s chest. “Yeah, da’s got the mini van outside waiting for me. Don’t be an idiot, Governor. No one knows where I am. I just wanted a night to have some fun.”

She watched as Scott and JJ shared a worried look and a silent conversation.

“You’re not in pain are you?” JJ asked.

“I feel good.” Prue threw her arms over her head and bounced in a circle. “I feel great. Come dance with me.” She took hold of their hands and tugged. “Come dance with me. I’m not sick tonight.” She was relieved when they both relaxed and allowed her to pull them towards the dancers.

JJ was a great dancer and attracted men and women alike on the dance floor. Scott was nowhere as smooth as JJ, but there was still a magnetism about him that drew people into his orbit. Prue expected her cousins to be easily distracted by the sexy women surrounding them, but their focus never wavered from Prue. Whenever someone encroached on the three of them, JJ politely danced them away. She’d missed her cousins, especially Scott, when they’d left for college. It was nice to spend time with them outside of hospital visiting hours doing normal things teenagers did.  
  
Simultaneously, Scott and JJ looked at the smart wearables on their wrists and stopped dancing. They shared a look before Scott held out his wrist to Prue.  
  
A message, addressed to her siblings and cousins, from her mom, read, _Prue snuck out of hospital. Have you heard from her? Do you know where she is?_  
  
Prue tightened her grip on Scott’s wrist. She wasn’t ready to go back. She wasn’t ready for her night to end. “Please.”  
  
“I’ll tell them you’re safe, but not where you are.” Scott shouted over the music. “I’m not wearing my tracker.”  
  
Prue rolled her eyes. “Mom can track your wearable.”  
  
“They’re worried. It’s two in the morning,” JJ said.

“If I was Becca or Nate, you wouldn’t tell on them,” Prue said angrily.

“Not true,” JJ said. “If they snuck out of the hospital, I’d be saying the same thing.”

Prue felt tears burn her eyes. It was fine for JJ to say he would treat Becca and Nate the same under similar circumstances, except Becca and Nate didn’t have membership rewards at Starling General Children’s Hospital. “I’ll only be gone for a few more hours,” Prue tried to reason.  
  
“What if we just tell Nate?” Scott offered a compromise.  
  
Prue had a pang of guilt as she thought about her parents and Nate worrying about her. The guilt turned to anger. She was tired of worrying about everyone else. She wanted a night for herself. “One more hour, please?” she pleaded.  
  
Scott and JJ shared another look before nodding their agreement.  
  
Prue began to move to the beat. She closed her eyes and allowed the music to course through her body. Her problems got pushed to the recesses of her mind as she lost herself to the sensual energy of the crowd.  
  
A loud popping noise was followed by screams. The music and lights cut off, plunging the windowless warehouse into darkness. Prue reached out to where her cousins had been. Her fingers tightened around what she thought was Scott’s arm. He grabbed her hand and held her tightly against his side.  
  
The far end of the warehouse began to glow orange and the crowd began to scream as the word formed in Prue’s head. “Fire.”

  
The crowd began to surge away from the fire and towards the exit. Prue’s grip on Scott slipped and she was pushed forward. Panic filled her as she realized her feet were no longer on the ground. If she didn’t stay upright, she was going to get trampled before she made it outside.  
  
The screams of her fellow revelers were deafening as the crowd continued to surge forward. Prue slammed against a metal support pole and she grabbed hold of it. The person behind her was crushing her against the pole and she feared her bones would snap under the force. Prue’s hands felt frantically along the metal for a handhold. When her finger slid into a groove she used all her strength to pull herself upwards. Her platform boots weren’t ideal for climbing, but years of gymnastics and archery had made her upper body deceptively strong. When she had pulled free of the crowd, she was able to shimmy up the pole. The warehouse was filling with smoke and a cloyingly sweet smell. She wasn’t sure if the dizziness she was feeling was from the smoke, the drug, or fear. Prue covered her nose and mouth with her shirt, hoping it would filter out what had to be the foam burning.  
  
The fire was rapidly lifting the darkness and filling the warehouse with an eerie orange glow. Prue scanned the crowd looking for signs of Scott and JJ. She prayed they were big enough to stay on their feet in the panicking crowd. There wasn’t any sign of her cousins and she resisted the urge to close her eyes against the horror happening twenty feet below her. She needed to get out of the warehouse but returning to the floor while the crowd was panicking was more likely to get her killed than the fire.  
  
A screeching sound in the direction of the fire drew Prue’s attention. Part of the roof was peeling back. The silhouette of two figures lowering from the roof filled Prue with hope. The Green Arrow and Doctor Midnight had arrived.  
  
William’s altered voice boomed through the warehouse. “Everyone, remain calm. The fire will be out momentarily. Everyone, remain calm.”  
  
Lights began to appear along the ceiling of the warehouse as William and Bobby shot temporary chem lights from their bows. The glow from the fire began to dim as the flame-retardant Bobby and William dropped when they opened the roof began to extinguish the fire.  
  
A painful whistle, much like her Aunt Sara’s canary cry, echoed through the warehouse. The crowd stopped moving as they covered their ears protectively. Prue tucked her head against her shoulder and covered her other ear with her hand, hoping her one handed grip on the pole would be enough. The whistle stopped, and the Green Arrow again asked the crowd for calm and to stop pushing towards the exit.  
  
Prue clung tighter to her perch and wondered how humans had ever survived as a species if they could panic as easily as a herd of wildebeests. She had no doubt that people were dying around her in the stampede for the exits. She held on for dear life, as she hoped she’d get the opportunity to tell her parents how sorry she was for making them worry.  
  
The whistle sounded again, and the crowd stopped moving. Williams voice replaced the whistle. “No one move, until I tell you too. The fire is out We’re going to open the wall to make another exit.” This time, the crowd remained still. Only the sound of crying could be heard.  
  
The whoosh of a repelling line alerted her to her brother’s presence before Bobby sailed over her head towards the exit doors. Knowing her brother's propensity for explosive devices, she wasn’t surprised he was the one to blow out part of the wall to make a bigger exit for the crowd.  
  
“Give me your hand,“ William said gruffly above Prue. “I’ll get you out.”  
  
“Will,” Prue cried out with relief, reaching for her brother. Her boots lost traction on the slippery pole and she was surprised to find herself falling.  
  
“Prue,” Williams shouted with surprise. He dove towards her and his arm encircled her waist. His line went taught and she jerked in his arm. “I’ve got you,” he said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.  
  
Prue held on as the repelling line retracted into the rafters. William settled them onto a crossbeam. He pulled off his breathing mask and placed it over her nose and mouth. His hands began running across her arms and legs, looking for an injury. “Are you all right?” he asked, the earlier calm gone from his voice.

“Yes, it’s our Prue. Do we know another Prue?” William said to whomever was in his ear. “I don’t know - Are you all right?” he asked her again.  
  
“I’m okay,” she answered. “Will,” Prue waited for him to look at her, “Scott and JJ are here too.”  
  
“Did you hear that?” William asked the person in his ear. He began to fasten a harness around Prue, attaching her to the crossbeam. “Don’t move. You’ll be safe up here. The fire is out. Leave the mask on. We’ll come back for you, once we clear the building.”

Prue tried to return the oxygen mask to William, but he wouldn’t take it. He kissed her forehead, “I’ll be right back.” He stepped off the crossbeam and appeared to float as he descended to the floor.  
  
Prue hugged her knees to her chest, lowered her head, and waited.  
  
“Come on, tiny angel, we’re leaving,” Bobby said quietly.  
  
Prue blinked at her brother, unsure of how long she’d been waiting. Beneath her, the floor was full of paramedics tending to the injured. “Are they dead?”  
  
He cut through the line securing her to the beam, and then held out his hand.  
  
“Scott and JJ?” she asked.  
  
“Safe,” he answered as he pulled her onto his back. “Hold on tight.”  
  
Prue held on as Bobby lowered them to the floor. As soon as his feet reached the ground, he pulled her around until she was facing him. “Don’t look,” he instructed. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, buried her face beneath his hood and against his neck. He carried her out of the warehouse into the chaos of the night.  
  
The warehouse was surrounded by firetrucks, ambulances and police cars. “I need to get to the ER,” Bobby said calmly. “There are a lot of casualties and they’re calling everyone in,” he explained. “Scott and JJ are going to take you back to the hospital.”  
  
“I want to go home,” she said.  
  
“I know you do, but you breathed in a lot of that crap before Will got a mask on you. The three of you need to take the antidote. You have to go back to the hospital.”  
  
Hot tears stung Prue’s eyes. She tightened her grip around Bobby as her body began to shake. “Don’t leave me.”  
  
“Why is she shaking like that?” Scott asked with alarm. “Is she all right?”  
  
“It’s the adrenaline,” Bobby said. “Come on, Prue.” He attempted to loosen her grip from around his neck. “I need you to go with Scott and JJ.”  
  
The rational part of her brain told her there were a lot of people who needed her brother more than she did, but the selfish part of her didn’t care. He was her brother, and she needed him too.  
  
Scott began to rub her back, “Come on, Prue. I’m so sorry I let go before, but I won’t this time. I promise.”  
  
The hitch in Scott’s voice made Prue lift her head. The look of guilt in his eyes successfully shut down her protestations. “It wasn’t your fault. I couldn’t hold on either.”  
  
Prue reached for Scott and Bobby transferred her into his waiting arms.  
  
“I’ll come see you as soon as I can,” Bobby promised before running off.  
  
“Let’s go,” JJ said, as he led them away from the warehouse. “Scott’s car is on its way.”  
  


The elevator doors to the pediatric floor opened revealing Victoria, the head nurse of the overnight shift.  
  
Victoria held out her hand. “Someone had an adventure.”  
  
As long as Prue could remember, Victoria had been a nurse on the pediatric ward. She’d been as constant in Prue’s life as her own family. Victoria had held her hand for innumerable procedures and provided comfort when medicine couldn’t dull the pain. She’d witnessed tears and anger, but nothing ever seemed to phase her.

Prue took Victoria’s hand. “How much trouble am I in?”  
  
“I can’t speak for your parents, but we’ve put a note in your chart. No fun bandages for at least two days,” Victoria teased. “We’re just glad you’re back safe.”  
  
Prue entered her room to find her mom and dad waiting for her. “Where’s da?” Prue asked. She hadn’t seen him since he practically ran from her room.  
  
“Home with Nate,” Felicity answered. “He’s on his way.”  
  
“Are the three of you okay?” Oliver asked tightly.  
  
“Scott and I are fine, Uncle Ollie,” JJ answered.  
  
“Before you get mad at them,” Prue said. “They didn’t know I was there until the end of the night. I went there by myself.”  
  
“I don’t care who knew what, when,” Felicity said pulling Prue and her nephews into a hug. “I’m just glad the three of you are safe.”  
  
“Doctor Smoak put in an order for all patients exposed to the fire to have blood work,“ Victoria said, holding up an empty vial.  
  
“Fine,“ Prue huffed, sitting on the edge of her bed.  
  
“I’m going to take these two downstairs for their blood work,“ Oliver said. He kissed the top of her head, “Nice hair. I like it.”  
  
“We’ll be back later, cuz,” JJ said, holding out his fist for her to bump.  
  
“Hey, guys,” she said to their retreating backs, “thanks for tonight. I had fun until everything went to hell.”  
  
Scott smiled. “It was fun. We should do it again.”  
  
“Just not another flaming inferno,” JJ added.

“I’ll be back,” Oliver promised before he ushered Scott and JJ into the hall.  
  
Prue barely noticed Victoria drawing blood. She only had eyes for her mom who was pacing in front of the windows. “You’re mad,” Prue said once Victoria closed the door behind her.  
  
Felicity stopped pacing and gave her daughter an incredulous look. “Ya think? You disabled your tracker. You hacked the hospital network to disable their cameras. You attended a rave you knew your brothers were investigating because of a drug with a dermal absorption delivery mechanism. You bet I’m angry – I’m furious. I’m all for a healthy rebellious streak, but Prue, this wasn’t rebellious, it was dangerous. Your dad was beside himself. He was afraid you left the hospital to hurt yourself.”  
  
Shame flooded Prue’s cheeks. “I wouldn’t do that to you. I was angry when I said that.”  
  
Felicity wrapped her arms around Prue. “I know you wouldn’t baby. You have every right to be angry, but you have no idea how much of what you said hurt us. You’re our baby - no matter how old you are.”  
  
“I’m sorry, I worried you,” Prue said. “I just couldn’t stand to be here for another minute.”  
  
“Go take a shower - you smell like - smoke,” Felicity said with a reluctant grin. “We have a lot to discuss - after you’ve gotten some sleep.”  
  
When Prue got out of the shower, she returned to her room to find Nate in her bed holding West to his chest and watching TV. He flipped the blankets back without looking at her. She climbed into bed and rested her head against his shoulder. “Where are mom and dads?”  
  
“In the hall talking to a doctor. Your blood work came back positive for Elation.” Nate turned to look at her. “Did you at least have some fun tonight?”

She smiled at her brother’s question. “I did. The music and dancing were great. I had a lot of fun with Scott and JJ. There were so many people, and everyone was there to have a good time. For a few hours, I forgot I was sick. I wish you were there.”

“Maybe if you invited me, I would have said yes,” he said.

Even though Nate’s words were light, she could see the hurt in his eyes. “You and I both know how this usually goes. If they thought you were helping me, there go your plans with Evan and the prom. I didn’t want you getting into trouble for me.”

“You’re worth getting into trouble for,” Nate said.  
  
Prue sighed. “Speaking of trouble, on a scale of one to ten, how mad is da?”  
  
Nate snorted. “He’s quiet and using short sentences.”  
  
Prue groaned. “So, like a hundred?”  
  
“I’d fake sleep, if I were you,” Nate advised. “He’ll be calmer later and less likely to ground you for the rest of your life.”  
  
Not for the first time since the doctor shared her test results, she wondered if the rest of her life would be counted in months instead of decades. It was possible her da could ground her for the rest of her life. She knew that her da was the parent who would be most angered by her choice to leave the hospital. She didn’t like it when her mom or dad were angry with her, but when her da was angry, she felt like she’d betrayed him. If she thought she could fool him, Prue would fake sleep just to keep from seeing the disappointment in his eyes.  
  
“You have to have the surgery,” Nate said quietly. “I don’t want to be George.”  
  
Prue rolled onto her side to look at her twin. Tears trailed down his cheeks. Nate was giving voice to one of their great fears from the pages of the _Harry Potter_ series - the possibility of losing their twin. “Do you honestly think I want to be Fred?” she said, trying to force levity into her voice.  
  
“It might not be cancer, but it might be if you don’t let them cut it out,” he said. “You could die.”  
  
“We’re all going to die,” Prue said. She loved her twin and she understood his fear, she couldn’t imagine her life without him by her side, but he didn’t understand what she was facing now. She didn’t want to die, but she didn’t want to go through another painful surgery with a long recovery period. She wanted to be normal.  
  
Nate sat up, rubbing at his tears. “That’s not funny.”  
  
“I’m not trying to be,” Prue said. “I just want some control. I’m sick of surgeries. There’s no guarantee this will be the last, I’m running out of intestines,” she pushed him back on the bed and rested her head back onto his shoulder. “I’m sick of being sick.”  
  
“I need you, Prue,” he said. “I’m sorry if that makes me selfish, but I’m selfish. If you won’t have the surgery for you, have it for me. Don’t leave me behind.”  
  
Before she could respond, her door opened, and her parents and Victoria entered. Victoria held a new wrist band, IV bag and a syringe.  
  
“I removed my hep lock,” Prue told Victoria apologetically as she secured her replacement hospital ID to her wrist.  
  
“I’ll be right back,“ Victoria said, slipping from the room.  
  
“Your hair is wet,“ Tommy said as he placed another blanket over her. “Are you warm enough?”  
  
Prue pulled the towel she had wrapped around her hair free. “It will dry fast. I’m not cold.”  
  
“Wow,” Nate said, “that’s pink. Did you mean to do that?”  
  
“Yes,” Prue pinched Nate’s arm, “it was intentional.”

“You’re going to look like a walking glob of cotton candy when your hair dries all frizzy,” Nate said, wrapping a lank of her hair around his finger.  
  
“You might be the least helpful person I know,“ Prue said to her twin.  
  
“I wasn’t trying to be helpful,“ he said with a broad grin.  
  
Victoria returned to the room with her supplies. “I really wish you didn’t pull that out. We had a devil of a time getting it in,” Victoria said is she examined Prue’s arms and hand for a viable vein. “We might need to run the line in your leg.”  
  
Prue couldn’t help the groan of distress at the thought of having to run the line through her leg. Instantly, Tommy was at her side, his hand on her shoulder. She looked up into her da’s face and felt herself relax when he smiled.  
  
“With this hair, I think we need to start calling you, Pippi,“ Tommy said as Victoria tied rubber tubing around Prue’s right arm.  
  
“Da, Pippi has red hair not pink,“ Prue said, playing along.  
  
“Are you sure? It’s been a while since we watched that deranged lunatic,” Tommy said.  
  
“I can’t believe you’re afraid of Pippi Longstocking,” Nate joined in.  
  
“She’s the most terrifying thing you kids ever asked to watch,” Tommy said with a shudder. “Even your Aunt Thea never made me watch her, and she made me watch some disturbing things over the years.”  
  
“Her hair was red,“ Prue said, fighting to keep a straight face.  
  
“Pink is close enough,“ Tommy insisted.  
  
Tears flooded Prue’s eyes, “I’m sorry I scared you, da.”  
  
“I know you are,” he said wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have left.”  
  
“All set,” Victoria said. She hung the IV and injected the contents of her syringe. “This is going to make you sleepy.”  
  
Prue wasn’t sure if it was the drug or the suggestion, but she yawned in response.  
  
The next thing Prue was aware of was someone holding her hand and humming softly. “Da?”  
  
“Try again,” Bobby said.  
  
She blinked her eyes and Bobby slowly came into focus. He was dressed in scrubs and sitting in the chair beside her. His jaw was unshaven, and his hair was looking a little wild. “You look like crap,” Prue rasped. “Did you get any sleep? How bad was it?”  
  
Bobby held a straw to her lips and Prue sipped on cool water. Her throat felt instantly better.  
  
“The girl with pink hair has no right to cast stones,” Bobby said, checking her pulse. “How are you feeling?”

“How bad was it?” Prue asked again, ignoring his question. The memories of the night before playing in front of her eyes.

“Twenty people are in critical condition – they were all trampled. The next day or two will tell the tale. It will be a miracle if no one dies,” Bobby said.

“If it wasn’t for you and Will,” Prue said, “it would’ve been a lot worse. Do you know how the fire started?”

“Will and Uncle Roy are investigating. It’s looking like an accident – overloaded electrical box,” Bobby answered. “They think we’ve finally got a line on the guy distributing the Elation.”

“Good,” Prue said through a yawn.

“Now – how are you feeling?” Bobby said. “Any pain?”  
  
“Tired and a little woozy,” she said covering a yawn. “No pain.”  
  
“You got dosed pretty good on your little vacation,” he said, a hint of anger in his voice. “The bubbles are laced with the same drug as the foam, but the absorption rate isn’t as high. Between the painkillers and the Elation, you’re lucky you didn’t OD.”  
  
“Bobby,” she started.  
  
Bobby pressed her hand to his cheek, his eyes shiny, “When I heard your voice in my comm – you scared the shit out of me. What were you thinking?”  
  
“I wanted to not be me for a few hours – I thought it would be fun,” she tried to explain.  
  
“You knew Will and I were investigating these raves - instead of telling us you found one, you went to it. What were you thinking? What if we hadn’t arrived when we did?” Bobby scolded. “You’re sixteen, Prue. You had no business being there. It was too dangerous.”  
  
“You’re not my dad,” Prue reminded Bobby.  
  
“No, I’m your big brother, and I always thought you had more sense than to put yourself in needless danger.”  
  
Prue sat up and smoothed the blanket over her legs. “We’re not talking about the rave anymore.”  
  
“Talk to me. You’re in the hospital for a reason.” Bobby said.  
  
“You spoke to Dr. Ross?”  
  
“I did. Why don’t you want the surgery?”  
  
“You know why,” Prue said. “Any chance I have of having a normal life will be gone.”

“It’s a less than five percent chance that you would need to have a permanent colostomy bag. You could still lead a normal life,” Bobby said.

Prue scoffed. “Yeah, college will be super normal with one of those strapped to me. The boys will be lining up to date me.”

“They will. You’re beautiful – inside and out. Trust me.”

“Don’t forget rich. I’ll always have to wonder if someone is with me for me or if I’m tolerated because of my trust fund.”

“That’s something all of us have to worry about,” Bobby admitted.

“Yeah, but the rest of you are healthy and gorgeous. Who wouldn’t want to be with you – money or not?” Prue gestured at her brother. “I mean, have you looked at yourself? Not now, cause you look awful, but usually, you’re not that bad to look at. I’m short and have the body of a little boy. No one finds me attractive now. Who is going to find me attractive with a colostomy bag?”

Bobby leaned forward and held Prue’s hands between his own. “Someone is going to fall head over heels in love with you because you’re amazing. None of this other stuff will matter.”

Prue’s eyes filled with tears. Bobby’s words sounded like a beautiful lie. “Maybe, but they’ll have to put up with something gross in order to love me. I just want to be like everyone else. I’m tired of hospitals and being the sick kid everyone pities.”

Bobby ran his hands through his hair. He rose from his chair and moved to look out the window. “What if I told you that I think I have another way to treat you?”

“Like a new medicine?” Prue asked. She felt a small flicker of hope flare in her chest.

“Not exactly,” he said, turning around. “Emma and I have been experimenting with Ray Palmer’s nanite technology for years.”

“I know – for microsurgery,” Prue said. “Oh, you think you can perform microsurgery with the nanites. Would that mean you wouldn’t have to remove as much of my intestine?”

“It wouldn’t be microsurgery. I can program the nanites to destroy whatever cells I tell them too. I can program the nanites to attack the pre-cancerous or cancerous cells throughout your body. You wouldn’t need surgery. We would inject them into your bloodstream.”

“Attack the cells, how?” Prue asked, her brain whirring at a million miles per second. She wasn’t anywhere as smart as Bobby, but she could hold her own. “Gene editing?”

“Nothing that sophisticated. The nanites are programmed to attach themselves to the identified cells. Once they’ve attached, the nanite literally burn the cells until they’re destroyed.”

“That’s amazing. Why doesn’t the whole world know about this?”

“Dr. Palmer isn’t exactly the poster child for nanite use. There’s a ban on using nanites on people,” Bobby said. “It’s illegal.”

“But, if the world knows you can cure cancer,” Prue said.

“I don’t care about the world right now, I care about you,” Bobby said.

“What do mom and dads say?” she asked. Prue was dreading her brother’s answer, because if this was a viable solution, her mom would’ve already injected the nanites into her.

Bobby shook his head. “I haven’t told them. I wanted to talk to you first. The technology hasn’t been tested on humans. All the trials we’ve done on non-human subjects have been successful, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe for humans.”

“What does Emma say?” Prue asked.

“I haven’t asked her. It’s illegal, Prue,” Bobby said.

“Yes,” Prue said getting out of bed. She threw her arms around Bobby’s waist, “Yes. Let’s do this.”

Bobby took hold of Prue’s shoulders. “We need to discuss this with mom and dads.”

“I’m telling you okay,” Prue said.

“Yeah, I’m not injecting nanites into their tiny angel until they say it’s okay. I wouldn’t inject Will with the nanites without asking mom and dads for permission first. The technology has been developed at QC. Mom could go to jail – maybe lose the company.”

“What about you?”

Bobby shrugged, “Jail time. I’d lose my medical license. Of course,” he winked, “I have more than one degree.”

The thought of her mom or brother going to jail because they wanted to save her didn’t seem fair. Her mom had worked hard to make QC into the successful company it was. Bobby had worked hard to become a doctor. He was passionate about it. She couldn’t ask him to lose the thing he loved most. “I can’t ask you to give it up for me.”

“You’re not asking. I’m volunteering. I told you before I told mom and dads because it’s your body and, ultimately, it should be your decision. If you said, no, mom and dads would never need to know.” He touched the ends of her hair. “The whole reason I became a doctor was because of you. If I can cure you, I would be okay never practicing medicine again.”

“If mom could get into trouble, why tell her?” Prue said. “No one needs to know.”

“People are going to ask questions when your tumor disappears without surgery or radiation,” Bobby said.

“How would anyone know it was nanites? I could change my diet – do meditation – start praying,” Prue said. “Weird things happen all the time.”

“Even if we can keep it quiet from your doctors – Mom, Emma and William would be able to easily figure it out.”

“What if they say no?”

“Then we go back to Plan A – surgery,” Bobby said.

Prue shook her head. “I’m serious. I won’t do the surgery.”

Bobby stared at his sister for two minutes before he nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, we’ll do it without telling them.”

“Really?” Prue asked with disbelief. Bobby was the least defiant of all her siblings.

“Yeah. I just need to figure out how to convince them to postpone your surgery for a week or two. I think we’re already pushing the timeline. With the amount of pain you’re in and the bleeding, two weeks is really pushing it.” Bobby began to pace her room, “I’ll need to do blood work and a needle biopsy so I can program the nanites. That’ll probably take a week, but if I can get Emma to help without telling her who the cells belong to, maybe it won’t take a week. The nanites work fast once they’ve been injected, so we should be okay if I can only buy us a week.”

“I’m not going to get super powers from the nanites, am I?” Prue teased.

Bobby stopped pacing, looked at his sister, and arched a brow. “I wasn’t planning on exposing you to an exploding dwarf star.”

“That’s too bad,” she said with a smile, “I wouldn’t say no to superpowers.”

“You’re getting me to lie to our parents, I’d say you already have superpowers.”

Prue wrapped her arms around her brother. “Thank you,” she said as she squeezed him tight.

“Thank me when it works,” Bobby said, wrapping her in his arms.

“Even if it doesn’t work, thank you for trying,” Prue said.

Bobby kissed the top of her head. “I’ve got a lot to do. Starting with getting everyone to postpone your surgery.”

“Bobby,” Prue called after him. When he turned to look at her, she said, “You might want to shower and shave before you talk to anyone. You might be more convincing if you didn’t look like you’ve been on a week-long bender.”

Bobby rolled his eyes, “Remind me again why I love you.”

Prue batted her eyes, “Because of my charm and winning personality.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely not that,” Bobby said with a sleepy smile. “Get some sleep. No more adventures. We can’t afford for you to have any more setbacks.”

Prue scrambled back into her bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. “I promise, I’ll behave.”

“I’ll be back around dinner time, see if you can score an extra pudding,” Bobby said with a wink.

“Any preference on flavor?” she asked, knowing his answer.

“I trust you,” Bobby said. “See ya later.”

Prue watched her brother as he stopped at the nurse’s station and spoke to the men and women behind the desk. She felt warm knowing that he was her big brother and was willing to risk everything for her. There weren’t many people who could say they trusted someone with their life and mean it literally. If Bobby said he could use nanites to save her life, she had no doubt that he could. For the first time, in a long time, Prue believed that a normal life was finally within her reach.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Your kudos and comments are what keep me writing and are always appreciated.
> 
> Audit hell begins in earnest tomorrow. I wanted to get this posted before my life is no longer my own.
> 
> That cut Olicity scene from last season was a delight and I have no idea why that had to hit the cutting room floor when I'm sure there was a scene of Rene's that could've been cut. 
> 
> You can also come say hi to me on tumblr. I'm always happy to answer questions about this verse or anything else Arrow. http://realityisoverrated-fic.tumblr.com


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